Neutral Ground North, which is jointly operated by Luke Summerfield and Perry Wirth, is a direct affiliate of Jon Friedland’s Milwaukee-based Neutral Ground. And with the addition of Veiga, the Grafton school will have plenty of black belt instructors to learn from. Claudio has plans to settle in either Madison, WI. or Los Angeles, CA.

“At Neutral Ground we don’t get wrapped up in the politics of who is under who," said Summerfield.  "We are going to be one big happy family who will all work together to improve the level of jiu-jitsu in Wisconsin. We will still be under Jon (Friedland), who has learned from Pedro Sauer, and we will now also be under Luiz and Thiago who have been taught directly by Rickson Gracie. Additionally, Jon is excited to be a student again, learning from Thiago and Luiz.”

“Everything is going to stay the same with Jon (Friedland),” Summerfield said. “But having Thiago joining the Neutral Ground family will allow us to offer a different style and perspective of jiu-jitsu in Wisconsin, a style that no one else in the area has and not many have experienced.”


Both Veiga and Claudio have a serious list of credentials which set a new level for the state of Wisconsin. Luiz Claudio, a third-degree black belt who directly trained, and surfed, along side Rickson Gracie, has been at black belt status for over an entire decade.


Thiago Veiga is two-time world champion (2001-2002). During the 2002 world’s competition in adult brown belt, Thiago won 5 matches in a row, not allowing any points or advantages in all 5 matches in which he ultimately earned first place. Following this run, Rickson awarded Thiago his BJJ black belt. Also in 2002, Thiago won the IBJJF Pan-American Championships, and is a two-time IBJJF Brazilian champion. In addition, Thiago has been awarded countless medals from other IBJJF, Arnolds, and NAGA events.

Amongst the partnership with Claudio and Veiga, Neutral Ground has also announced that it will be opening two more jiu-jitsu schools by the end of next summer. The schools will be established in Menominee Falls and Whitefish Bay. Summerfield reported that another of Claudio’s black belts from Brazil will travel to the United States in order to be added staff these new schools.


Finally, the school has announced two huge events they will be organizing in Wisconsin. First, a welcoming seminar will be held when Veiga arrives to Wisconsin in August. Secondly, the new instructor has also scheduled a November Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament planned to be hosted at Cedarburg High School’s field house.

Wisconsin’s combat sports scene seems to grow continually stronger each and every day.